Alma/Synopsis
Synopsis History Years ago, Alma woke up with a doctor by her bedside. According to him, when he found her, she had suffered grave injuries and was holding to Seth as if to protect him from a mysterious threat. Sometime during or after her awakening, Alma's right arm was amputated, apparently as a means of stopping the spread of a Nemesis' infection.RADIANT Manga: Chapter 22 - Page 12. (Seth's explanation touches on the cause of Alma's missing arm.) And unfortunately, the attack was so severe that she suffered from memory loss and could no longer remember anything that occurred before awakening. Seeing no further solution, she opts to take Seth under her wing, and the two begin to travel across the globe in search of answers, or clues that can help Alma piece back her memory together. Initially, she sees Seth as a mere burden, and only tolerates him as he serves as one of the only links she has to her past. To that end, she would carelessly leave him unsupervised in order to go search and hunt Nemesis for profit. One evening, when Alma ventures off yet again, Seth is targeted by some of the younger children in the local village. Despite his insistence on being left alone, the children do not relent. As a result of the torment, the young boy discharges a massive bolt of Fantasia, invoking the ire of the adult villagers, who sees Seth as nothing more than an evil Sorcerer that has to be put down. As they prepare to burn him at the stake, Alma arrives in the nick of time. Through intimidation and deceptive, she fools the villagers into thinking contact with her will cause them to become infected. As they run off in fear, the woman releases Seth and consoles him. It was in that very moment that she was able to understand just how vulnerable the child really was, and from this her affection for her adopted son began to develop. The traumatic event has a profound effect on both the Sorcerers, and motivates Alma to invest in a floating home, which comes to be her Observatory, all in effort to keep Seth out of harms way Pompo Hills Arc Alma is first seen in Pompo Hills, trying to broker a deal with a local merchant. Unfortunately, the merchant, having seen her fly in a Broom earlier, is unwilling to entertain selling her any goods. After several failed attempts at getting the store owner to act in good faith, Alma snaps, using her intimidation prowess to shake the man down. However, before she can take advantage of this action, Seth comes charging into the plaza, being chased by a stampede of cows. Before the cows can trample him, Alma steps in, using her halberd in order to blow away the herd, and stack them neatly atop of one another. The villagers are irate, blaming both Sorcerers for the carnage in the village, believing them to be nothing more than bad luck and menaces. After vowing to pay for the damage, Alma, seeing that any other attempt diplomacy would be futile, quickly flies off on her Broom with seth in tow. She berates the young Sorcerer sometime after, and punishes him by making him clean the outside of her Observatory with a mop. Sometime afterwards, a Nemesis crashlands onto Pompo Hills while Alma is out on another Islet hunting a Nemesis. She arrives at the end, just in time to save an exhausted Seth from a regenerating Golem Nemesis. Sometime after, once Seth gets the grand idea of finding the Radiant, and destroying it once and for all, Alma directs the teen to head towards the Artemis Institute. She instructs him to locate Yaga to gain assistance in learning the basics of Fantasia manipulation. She sees him off, hiding her tears and sorrow of seeing her young boy heading off all alone on a new adventure. Rumble Town Arc Alma arrives in Artemis in order to speak to Seth, who has been feeling regret and miserable as fallout from his adventure in Rumble Town. It's there that she reminds him of all the good he's been able to accomplish, even though he was unable to save everyone. After reassuring Seth that he wasn't a monster, the two head off, with Alma seeing him halfway towards Cyfandir. Manga Differences Pompo Hill Arc Seth is originally being chased by a mob of villagers, with the cows being on a rampage on another part of the village. In this version, Alma stops the villagers from trying to harm Seth, and uses a Repulse in order to gain the needed distraction for escape. After she punishes Seth by having him clean the Observatory's exterior, Alma scolds the boy much like in the anime. However, in this version of the event, after the scolding, the Nemesis arrives on the same day. As opposed to being on a far away islet, Alma is instead suffering from a headache, and simply remains ignorant of the Nemesis' presence. Shortly after the Golem's defeat, she arrives in order to rescue an exhausted Seth from the Bravery Quartet. In this version of events, she makes use of a special parchment seal to trap the villains in a birdcage. She provides healing for all of those harmed in the Nemesis's and the Bravery Quartet's villainy, and calls Doc from the Artemis Institute to retrieve the Nemesis' remains. At night's fall, Alma and Seth engages in one more conversation, with the elderly woman offering to finally take him on hunting trips. Nevertheless, Seth denies the offer, now resolving to hunt the Radiant and stop the source of Nemeses all together. While taken back by the sudden proposal, Alma supports his ambition and instructs him to head towards the Artemis Institution and seek out Yaga in order to begin his journey. Rumble Town Arc After Piodon meets Seth, and subsequently weakens the seals placed on his bandage, Alma's body violent reacts in Pompo Hills. She becomes pained, and visibly struggles to maintain her strength. By the time Seth undergoes his transformation, Alma has fallen unconscious for some reason related to the berserk form's emergence. She arrives after the event in Rumble Town, and offers Seth words of encouragement. Prior to the boy heading off for Cyfandir, Alma helps get him some supplies for the trip, and reveals that the Bravery Duet now work under her. References Trivia * The anime provides much greater insight on Alma's backstory than the manga. Thus far, there has been no contradictions in the anime. * In the manga, Alma is much more aggressive and sarcastic.